Today in White Sox History: October 6

A day of playoff setbacks includes an offensive meltdown in Baltimore

1905

The White Sox lost the pennant on the next-to-last day of the season when pitcher Doc White couldn’t beat the bottom-feeding St. Louis Browns. White and the Sox lost, 6-2, and handed the flag to the Philadelphia Athletics. The Sox would finish the season two games off of the pace. That year, they had six games declared ties, which were a factor in the final standings.

1908

The White Sox lost the pennant at home on the last day of the season, when Ty Cobb and Detroit won, 7-0. Doc White was the pitcher of record, only this time he may have had an excuse for being knocked out of the game after two innings: He was working on two days’ rest, having beaten the Tigers, 3-1, on October 4. The White Sox entered the game trailing Detroit by a half-game.

Had the White Sox won and claimed the AL pennant, they would have gone on to face the Chicago Cubs in the World Series for the second time in three seasons.

The game attracted 25,000 fans, but owner Charles Comiskey was so fearful of overflow crowds entering the ballpark and interfering with the game that he locked the gates to South Side Park.

1909

Architect Zachary Taylor Davis submitted his design for a new ballpark on the South Side to owner Charles Comiskey. The concrete-and-steel structure was considered revolutionary for its time, yet only took three-and-a-half months to complete the following year, opening in July 1910.

It was the first commission of Davis’ career.

1917

The White Sox opened the second World Series in their history with a win, 2-1, over New York. Eddie Cicotte threw a complete game, punching out just two Giants and scattering seven hits and a walk. Cicotte allowed just three runners to reach second base, and his two pickoffs at first ended both the second and eighth innings.

On offense, Fred McMullin doubled home Eddie Collins in the third, and Happy Felsch’s homer in the fourth proved to be the deciding run. Felsch’s clout was the first-ever home run in World Series play by the White Sox.

1923

It was his first year on the team and turned out to be his last appearance of the season, but future Hall-of-Famer Ted Lyons had himself an afternoon in Cleveland.

The righthander from Texas came in to throw three innings of relief in the first game of a doubleheader and got the win, as the Sox won, 6-3, by scoring four times in the ninth inning. Later in the afternoon, Lyons came in to relieve in the second game, tossing 4 2⁄3 innings and, yes, he got the win again, as the Sox took the contest, 7-6.

Lyons threw almost eight innings total on the day. When his career ended in 1946, Lyons had 260 wins, the most ever for a White Sox pitcher.

1959

At the mammoth L.A. Coliseum, which was the temporary home of the Dodgers, the White Sox played small ball in Game 5 of the World Series to beat Sandy Koufax, 1-0. The win, in front of 92,706 fans (still the all-time record for a baseball game), cut L.A.’s lead in the World Series to three games to two.

The only Sox run scored on a Sherm Lollar double-play ground ball, but it turned out to be enough. Chicago became the first team in World Series history to have three pitchers combine for a shutout (Bob Shaw, Billy Pierce and Dick Donovan).

The game also featured one of the greatest catches in World Series history, as Jim Rivera ran a long way and made an over-the-shoulder catch to end the seventh inning with two men on base to save the game by robbing Charlie Neal of a potential game-winner (also, it was a day game and Rivera somehow located the ball against a murderous background filled with white shirts and dresses worn by the fans.

1983

The White Sox would score just THREE RUNS over the four games of the ALCS, and that batting flat tire truly began on this night, as Mike Boddicker completely shut their offense down. The White Sox managed just five singles against 14 Ks in the game against the rookie. They also left nine on base (Boddicker walked three and hit two White Sox) and were 0-for-7 with RISP.

It was an utterly deflating game, but still, the White Sox were returning to Chicago needing to win just two-of-three of the pennant.

2000

Another dramatic and fantastic season was ruined, as the White Sox fell apart and lost the ALDS in three straight games to the Mariners. The M’s clinched the series despite a heroic effort from pitcher James Baldwin. JB, pitching with a bad arm, held the Mariners to one run on three hits in six innings.

Seattle scored the series-clinching run in the 2-1 win on a suicide squeeze from Carlos Guillén in the ninth inning. Replays showed him clearly out of the batter’s box on the bunt attempt, stepping over home plate, but White Sox manager Jerry Manuel never protested the play.

2011

Former White Sox star Robin Ventura was named manager, succeeding Ozzie Guillén, who bolted for Miami after losing a power struggle with Ken Williams in the front office. Ventura was named to the post only after Paul Konerko was approached and offered a player-manager role, which he refused.

Ventura proved a fresh alternative to Guillén — at least for one successful year; the 2012 team led the AL Central for much of the season before faltering and finishing 85-77. It was Ventura’s five-year tenure at the helm that ultimately plunged the White Sox into rebuilding mode.